User blog:Bluestripe the Wild/Essay: The Prevalence of Female Characters in the Redwall Universe
Hello, I'm here to discuss something I noticed as of late, and that is the female characters in the Redwall books, more notably the latest books. WARNING! This essay contains spoilers from Doomwyte, The Sable Quean, and The Rogue Crew! Alright, so first off is Zaran the Black. She is a river otter whose mate, Varon and her daughter, Namur were slain by Korvus Skurr and the Doomwytes. She is bent on avenging the memory of both and is armed with her swords that are joined at the hilt. In the final battle between the Wytes and the Gonfelin thieves, Guosim, and several others, she pursues Korvus Skurr, who attempted to flee the battle. It is later said that she caught up with the raven and slew him, thus fulfilling her vow to kill him for having done the same to her mate and daughter. After Korvus Skurr is slain and the Wytes defeated, she moves into Redwall Abbey and becomes the mate of Skipper Rorgus. They have a son together, whose name is Rorzan. Now personally, I think that Zaran was a strong character. She and Bosie McScutta are the main power behind the force opposing the Wytes. Yes, she does have the classic revenge plot, but she fulfilled it. She is not a heartless beast with no other purpose than to slay the killer of her family, but she shows that the memory is painful, as shown when she speaks with the shrew Dubble. Secondly, I would like to speak about Ambrevina Rockflash. She appears in "The Sable Quean" in the later part of the book. She came in search of Salamandastron and met a young otter by the name of Flandor along the way. One day, Flandor is kidnapped by the Ravagers. This causes Ambrevina to search for her companion. Well, in Althier, the young captive woodlanders plan to escape by means of a tunnel. Vilaya discovers this and attacked Midda the shrew and demanded she told her where the tunnel was. Flandor intervened to defend his friend by leaping on the sable. Some of the quean's soldiers came to her aide after the young otter struck her in the face with his rudder, but was stabbed by Vilaya's poisoned dagger. He died a short time later. Later, Ambrevina discovers this and swears to avenge Flandor. During the final battle at Redwall Abbey, Vilaya runs after most of the Ravagers are slain, but is pursued by the determined badger. Ambrevina pushes the sable, who falls and lands on her venom-coated dagger, killing her. She later travels to Salamandastron and becomes the Badger Lady. The third female character I would like to talk about is Posybud from "The Rogue Crew." Now Posy is quite different from the two heroines I mentioned already. While Zaran and Ambry were both warriors, Posy was anything but. At times, she could be more bold than Uggo Wiltud and even some of the warriors, but she was no helpless maid who was only good looking. In the final battle between Razzid's crew and the combined forces of the Guosim, the Long Patrol, and the Rogue Crew, Posy saves Uggo from Razzid Wearat by dealing him a blow to the midriff with the Sword of Martin. Razzid Wearat is not dead yet, however. He remains alive until Jum Gurdy bashes his staff over the corsair's skull, killing him. In honor of being one of the creatures to contribute to the death of Razzid, the Greenshroud is renamed the "Posy Gurdy" in their honor. Posy shows that you don't have to be a warrior to be bold in the face of danger. In conclusion, I believe that Brian Jacques tried to show that females could be just as heroic and capable of great deeds as the male characters. Category:Essays Category:Blog posts